Oh, you beautiful memes. The mind-viruses of Internet culture are sometimes as obvious as Harlem Shake and sometimes as surprising as Gangnam Style. (Seriously, who saw that coming?) They don't always involve dancing though. In fact, they frequently involve cats.

But dance moves and kittehs aren't the only cultural bits and pieces carried along in the meme-stream. Major slices of popular culture are constantly mutated and morphed to fit interesting new ideas before being shared like a cold in winter. That's also very true of the various Paramount-powered permutations of Star Trek. Look for Trek's meme strength to multiply exponentially with this week's release of the new film Star Trek Into Darkness. The long-awaited sequel to the 2009 Star Trek reboot once again stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, and Anton Yelchin.

JJ Abrams also rejoins the crew, returning to the director's chair to shine up the lens flares (see slide two!) that now seem to power this franchise. Perhaps it's his last time on the bridge before he heads off to Disney to helm a flick for the competition that also has "Star" in the title. Will it be the last we see of Trek on our screens? Uh, no. Directors brought the franchise back even after the disaster that was Star Trek: Nemesis, despite the fact that it had a bad guy played by Bane from The Dark Knight Returns...but I digress.

While we wait to discover the secrets of Star Trek Into Darkness, let's look back. With 46 years' worth of Star Trek history out there, there's abundant meme fodder from faithful fans who can't let go of catchphrases like "Beam me up," "I'm a doctor, not a ________," and "Resistance is futile; you will be assimilated." Take a look at what we deem the best (and probably strangest) memes from the United Federation of Planets.

1
Picard Facepalm

The stoic calm of Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise-D is seldom ruffled, even by the Ferengi who wanted him dead, Borg that assimilated him, or Cardassian torture. But man, does he find Q irritatingenough so as to inspire a facepalm image that says so much without saying a word. You can make your own meme from it by grabbing the image at http://picardfacepalm.com.

2
Needs Moar Lens Flare

Most people loved the Star Trek reboot in 2009, but it was blinding. One fan claims to have counted a full 1,013 lens flare effects used in the film. Some have gone so far as to insert extra lens flares into footage from The Original Show. The lens flare meme migrated to Star Wars and beyond to signify the future. Read more at Know Your Meme's Lens Flare page.

3
Shatner's Sabataaaage

Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning actor William Shatner wasn't always so...subtle. He could sometimes be a temperamental little baby. For example, he can't really pronounce the word "sabotage" correctly and once got called out on it by a voice-over director, to whom he gave a passive-aggressive verbal beatdown. It was all recorded, then shared with the world. This video shows he even said "sabataaage" once on the bridge of the Enterprise (in TOS episode "Wink of an Eye").

4
Anything Wil Wheaton

He left the bridge of the Enterprise-D way back in 1990, but actor Wil Wheaton was first and foremost a fan and wears his nerddom on his sleeve. So much so that just about every odd thing he does gets captured and memed in a big way, from his clown sweater (pictured) to a picture of him collating paper. Perhaps his best meme contribution is what's now called Wheaton's Law, which is simply this: "Don't be a Dick." The "law" even has its own Facebook page.

5
Riker Takes a Seat

Commander William T. Riker of the Enterprise-D was kind of like Kirk-lite, the bearded guy who got the ladies but less often, maybe because the woman he'd eventually marry was sitting on the bridge next to him for years. But man, could he sit. A recent super-cut video has surfaced showing just how often actor/director Jonathan Frakes took a seat in his Riker uniform by cavalierly throwing his leg over the chair back from behind. It's astounding really. And he didn't even split his pants.

6
Captain Kirk Is Climbing a Mountain, Why Is He Climbing a Mountain?

The less said about Star Trek V, the better. It's the only film in the series directed by William Shatner, a guy who could actually write an okay book but who didn't spend nearly enough time on the script for that turkey. One good thing came out of it though. The DVD extras feature the Shat explaining things, such as why Kirk is climbing a mountain while on a camping trip with his elderly buddies Spock and McCoy. Okay, that by itself sucks too, but it's been turned into one of the greatest video remixes of all time. Listen once and you'll be singing along with Bill all day and marveling at a man who'd say out loud: "He wants to make love to the mountain."

7
Replacing Cumberbatch

We still don't know whom Benedict Cumberbatch is really playing in the new film Star Trek Into Darkness, and we don't want to know until we're in the theater with a bucket of popcorn. However, one already famed image—that of Cumberbatch's bad guy facing down Kirk and Spock while in the Enterprise brig—is gaining fame as people Photoshop others in his place. There are more iterations at the Star Trek Meme tumblr, which includes NSFW language.

8
Jedi Mind Meld

It's basic geek knowledge: Jedi can do mind tricks ("These are not the droids you're looking for") and Vulcans can perform telepathic mind melds. So the Obama Administration is lucky the geek world didn't turn out in force to impeach Mr. President when he referenced a "Jedi mind meld" at a press conference, conflating the two biggest space opera franchises in the worst way. The White House was quick to realize the imbalance it brought to the Force and the Federation and made fun of the President's nerd faux pas, even turning it into a hashtag, while educating the public about the sequester. It's probably also the best tag to explain JJ Abrams career trajectory.

9
Anything Posted by George Takei

Out of all the beloved cast members from the original Star Trek, George Takei clearly wins the Internet. His Facebook fan page has more than four million fans because he's utterly embraced the geek side of both Star Trek and Star Wars. (He did a voice on the Clone Wars animated show, making him one of the few actors to work in both universes.) He's also adored by the LBGT community, fans of Howard Stern, and, well, anyone. No dorkery is beneath him. The 76-year-old even wrote a book about his meteoric rise through the social media ranks. Follow Captain Sulu and you too will find plenty of new memes to share.

About the Author

Eric narrowly averted a career in food service when he began in tech publishing at Ziff-Davis over 25 years ago. He was on the founding staff of Windows Sources, FamilyPC, and Access Internet Magazine (all defunct, and it's not his fault). He's the author of two novels, BETA TEST ("an unusually lighthearted apocalyptic tale"--Publishers' Weekly) an... See Full Bio

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